News of the strange: Octopuses prefer HDTV, Souls for sale, and more

Oh those snobby cephalopods! Watching crabs run around on a mere big screen isn't good enough for them, they want that crisp, sharp, HD quality or they're just not convince, said researchers from Macquarie University in Australia. The research team "collected gloomy octopuses" from Sydney Harbor and showed them HD videos of crabs, another octopus, and the last video was of a boring jar.

In previous studies involving octopuses and standard definition television, the cephalopods did not barely move a tentacle, but with the HD programming, they were quite responsive. The responses did change from day to day and were not the same for every octopus -- suggesting "episodic personalities" the researchers noted, but they all did respond a lot more to the HD than to the standard definition videos.

Not known to have the best education system in the nation, Oklahoma does produce some stellar boneheads. One such bonehead was a woman in Altus who, allegedly, accidently texted a Drug Task Force agent to come do some drugs with her; and another was a man who was arrested after he tried to pay the cops with a branch from "the last tree in the universe."

The Altus woman allegedly texted District III Drug Task Force agent Chris Counts saying, "if you want a hit of this stuff before it is all gone, you
better get over here." Counts got over there real quick and found powdery "substance" along with a gun. The woman was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute. She told the cops that she thought she had texted a friend. More on this story at CBS News.

The "stick man" was doing donuts in his truck in the Oklahoma Civic Center parking lot, typical weekday afternoon really, when he struck a garbage can and got stuck. Knowing he would catch flack for his reckless behavior, he went straight to the cops for preemptive payment -- only he didn't bring cash to pay his would-be fine, he brought a tree branch.

Rondell Bailey told the cops that it was the last tree in the universe and he wanted the charges dropped, according to NewsOK.com. The cops probably realized he was bonkers so they kicked him out, tree branch and all. Feeling unsatisfied, Bailey then went to the US Marshal's Office nearby and tried again.

Somehow he got all the way back to his truck before he was finally arrested. No shocker, drugs are suspected in this case as well.

Souls for sale!

Some moron actually paid $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983 US dollars) at an auction Monday night for two glass vials that allegedly contain the ghosts of two people.

A woman in New Zealand claims to have caught the spirit of an old man who lived in her house in the 20s and a "disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board," read the San Francisco Gate. After a good old-fashioned excorism, she caught the spirits in these two vials and then washed them with holy water to dull the potency of the ghosts, she told reporters.

The online auction at trademe.co.nzreportedly received more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions. I need to get on eBay with this idea for real.